What are you currently reading?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Pushkin, The Queen of Spades.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Nikolai Gogol, Nevsky Prospekt.

[LKB]

Just finished Code Name Chaos, the memoirs of former Defense Secretary Gen. ( ret. ) Jim Mattis. I would describe the book as a primary reference for anyone wishing to explore excellence in leadership.

[SimonNZ]

Far too many books currently on the go at the moment, depending on my mood at any given hour:



Pleasantly surprised at how non 80s jargon and readable Said's Orientalism is.

Also finished another smart and fun novel of Christopher Brookmyre's:

[aligreto]

O'Connor: The Mad Lomasneys and other stories





Frank O'Connor is a renowned Irish writer known for his short story writing and this book is a collection of some of his short stories. It contains wonderful stories. His succinct narrative style is wonderfully effective in portraying the essence of a story. He also had the ability to portray people very well and certainly understood and portrayed the psyche of the people of his time and place.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

O'Connor: The Mad Lomasneys and other stories





Frank O'Connor is a renowned Irish writer known for his short story writing and this book is a collection of some of his short stories. It contains wonderful stories. His succinct narrative style is wonderfully effective in portraying the essence of a story. He also had the ability to portray people very well and certainly understood and portrayed the psyche of the people of his time and place.

Sounds interesting. I will look for a copy.
Reading this book today.

[aligreto]

Reading this book today.

The Idylls of Ireland. 

[DavidW]

I recently re-watched the BBC production of Bleak House (a gift some time ago from Bogey) and as a result, I've begun reading it.

That is the only Dickens novel I've had difficulty reading imo.

[DavidW]

Awhile ago I read The Malazan Book of the Fallen which is imho the greatest fantasy ever written BY FAR (I think Steve, i.e. bwv 1080 originally rec'd it).


And now I'm reading the followup, which intelligently allows the characters to be closer to normal since all of the op characters are dead or gone:



The publisher wanted a Karsa Orlong trilogy, Erikson wrote something brilliant but thumbed his nose at his masters by not having Karsa show up at all.

[Mandryka]

That is the only Dickens novel I've had difficulty reading imo.

The best bit is when some guy spontaneously combusts and someone else gets to find out because he can smell burning human fat in his flat.

[DavidW]

The best bit is when some guy spontaneously combusts and someone else gets to find out because he can smell burning human fat in his flat.

Yeah I remember that!

[aligreto]

Matthews: The Atlas of Natural Wonders





This is a book that I picked up just to have on the shelf and to occasionally browse and dip into. Unfortunately I have only visited 5 of the 52 wonders listed in the book.

[Artem]

5 out of 52 is a good start. What were the places?

[aligreto]

5 out of 52 is a good start. What were the places?

Sognefjord in Norway
Mount Vesuvius, Italy
Pamukkale Springs, Turkey
Grand Canyon, USA
Niagara Falls, USA/Canada

[Artem]

Yes, the Niagara Falls is a great place to visit. Were you on the US or the Canadian side? Did you go on a boat?

[ritter]

Many years ago, I started reading Ezra Pound's The Cantos, and was initially bowled over by the richness of the imagery and the poetic language .....but, several pages in, I found myself at a loss, as the poetry became increasingly obscure, to the point of unintelligibility.

This summer in Foyles in London I bought Carroll F Terrell's mammoth (816 pages!) A Companion to The Cantos of Ezra Pound, and hopefully it'll help me settle this old score  :



The edition of The Cantos I have is that of Faber & Faber printed in 1986, which I understand is "ultra-complete". Surprisingly, I cannot find a picture of it online (it's in the traditional Faber & Faber livery, in light grey).

[aligreto]

Yes, the Niagara Falls is a great place to visit. Were you on the US or the Canadian side? Did you go on a boat?

I was on the US side and I did not go on a boat. I am not too comfortable on the water, particularly in a turbulent situation like that.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

[SimonNZ]

Many years ago, I started reading Ezra Pound's The Cantos, and was initially bowled over by the richness of the imagery and the poetic language .....but, several pages in, I found myself at a loss, as the poetry became increasingly obscure, to the point of unintelligibility.

This summer in Foyles in London I bought Carroll F Terrell's mammoth (816 pages!) A Companion to The Cantos of Ezra Pound, and hopefully it'll help me settle this old score  :



The edition of The Cantos I have is that of Faber & Faber printed in 1986, which I understand is "ultra-complete". Surprisingly, I cannot find a picture of it online (it's in the traditional Faber & Faber livery, in light grey).

I tried with the Cantos and had the companion volume you picture and some other secondary Pound stuff. But with the near standstill headway I was making I had to admit to myself I already had enough difficult authors in my life to knock my head against. I gave all my Pound stuff away to someone more enthusiastic.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Far too many books currently on the go at the moment, depending on my mood at any given hour:


Pleasantly surprised at how non 80s jargon and readable Said's Orientalism is.

Also finished another smart and fun novel of Christopher Brookmyre's:

The orientalism book looks very interesting!

[Artem]

Superb book. Totally engrossing and very enjoyable to read. I saw random famously controversial Sally Mann's photographs before, but I was not aware of her as a photographer in a general sense. Besides photography, this book is a very interesting tale of family, art, south in the US history and nature, American history, race and mortality. A very strong recommendation.